Light-Guide Sunroof Assembly

ABSTRACT

A light-guide sunroof assembly comprises a plastic substrate and a light source module furnished besides the plastic substrate. An outer layer of the plastic substrate is added with dye to form a colored background. A plurality of light-guide microstructures is furnished on the plastic substrate to guide the light generated by the light source module toward an inner surface of the plastic substrate. Thereby, the light generated by the light source module is guided by the plastic substrate and then ejects out of the inner surface of plastic substrate, so as to provide a light decoration or lighting effect that enriches the visual experience. Moreover, the plastic substrate is first formed into a curved plastic plate through a hot pressing process, and then a connecting structure is formed and fixed on the plastic plate by an insert-molding injection process, in order to replace the traditional car sunroof mechanism which is assembled by glass plate bonded with metal connecting parts.

This application claims the benefit of Taiwan Patent Application SerialNo. 108137743 filed Oct. 18, 2019, the subject matter of which isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention refers to a light-guide sunroof assembly, and moreparticularly to a light-guide sunroof assembly that comprises a plasticsubstrate made of at least two layers of plastics and a light sourcemodule furnished besides the plastic substrate; in which, an outer layerof the plastics is added with dye to form a colored background, suchthat the light generated by the light source module is guided by theplastic substrate and then ejects out of the inner surface of plasticsubstrate.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Traditional cars usually use glass to produce sunroofs, windshields, andside windows. However, because glass has the disadvantages of heavy inweight, fragile, and difficult to shape; in recent years, some peoplehave developed plastic materials that are light-transmissive to replacetraditional glass for the production of car sunroofs, windshields, andside windows. In addition, the traditional car glass sunroof has nolighting function. The roof lights are installed on the roof of car. Dueto the limited space, the effective lighting area of the roof lights islimited, cannot provide enough lighting function. Furthermore, for carswith panoramic sunroofs, since there is no room for roof lights, andthereby are forced to abandon the top-down lighting function of the rooflights in the cars. In order to improve this shortcoming, somemanufacturers have also developed luminous light bars around glass orplastic car sunroofs to provide a light decoration effect. In order toimprove this shortcoming, some manufacturers have also developed glassor plastic car sunroofs that are surrounded by luminous light bars toprovide lighting decoration effect.

Please refer to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B, which are respectively across-sectional schematic diagram and a schematic top-view of an exampleof assembled luminous light bars around a car sunroof of conventionaltechnology. In order to achieve the lighting decoration effect, theconventional car sunroof is attached with a luminous light bar 02 on theouter periphery of the transparent plate 01 of the sunroof made of glassor plastic. Since the conventional car sunroof transparent plate 01 hasno light guide or decoration function, therefore, the light emitted bythe luminous light bar 02 can only form a visual effect of a thinannular halo (light-ring) around the plate 01. In addition, the carsunroof transparent plate 01 itself does not have a light-emittingsurface, not only the visual appearance is monotonous, but also itcannot provide the light decoration configuration of a surface lightsource.

There are various kinds of plastics, in which, engineering plastics madeof polycarbonate (PC for short) have high transparency and freedyeability, high strength and coefficient of elasticity, high impactstrength, wide operatible temperature range, low molding shrinkage, gooddimensional stability, and good weather resistance, tasteless andodorless, harmless to the human body, in line with health and safety,easy to shape, etc., and thus is suitable to be used to make transparentplastic plates with curved surfaces or special structures, in order toreplace the fragile and difficult to shape glass plates. For example,car sunroofs are usually made of polycarbonate (PC). However,polycarbonate (PC) also has the deficiencies such as poor wearresistance and easy yellowing under ultraviolet radiation and etc.Therefore, in the prior arts, a wear-resistant hard layer is formed onthe outer surface of the polycarbonate (PC) substrate, and anultraviolet (UV) absorbing material is added in the substrate, in orderto improve the wear-resistant ability and reduce the yellowingphenomenon of the substrate. Such method is to “absorb” the UV light. UVlight will still enter the PC substrate and then be blocked. Although ithas the function to blocking UV from entering the car, it will stillcause UV yellowing and UV degradation of the substrate itself.

In addition, in order to have a fashionable sense of design andaesthetic visual feeling in appearance and shape, today's car sunroofsare no longer simply flat structures, but mostly plastic plates withsmooth and curved surfaces. Regardless of the conventional car sunroofswhich are made of either plastic or glass plates, the connectingstructure (or mechanism) thereof used for connecting the car body isalways made of metal and is adhered to the plastic plate (or glassplate) by using adhesive. Because the plastic plate (or glass plate) forproducing the car sunroof is made of hard plate with curved surface,therefore, when the metal connecting structure (which is also a hardmaterial) is attached on the connecting structure (or mechanism) made ofmetal by adhesive, it is inevitable that the joint surface between theplastic plate (or glass plate) and the connecting structure (ormechanism) will contain gaps; not only the effect of waterproofing andmoisture-proofing is reduced, but also the combination strength of thesetwo parts is worse. Furthermore, the connecting structure (or mechanism)made of metal also has the deficiencies of heavier in weight (causingthe vehicle to consume more fuel and electricity during driving),fragile, lack of anti-ultraviolet (UV) and thermal insulation effects,and poor adhesion between metal and plastic (or glass) plates, and thusleaves a room for improvements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary objective of the invention is to provide a light-guidesunroof assembly which comprises a plastic substrate made of at leasttwo layers of plastics and a light source module furnished besides theplastic substrate. An outer layer of the plastics of plastic substrateis added with dye to form a colored background. A plurality oflight-guide microstructures are selectively furnished at one of theplastic layers to guide the light generated by the light source moduletoward an inner surface of the plastic substrate. Thereby, the lightgenerated by the light source module is guided by the plastic substrateand then ejects out of the inner surface of plastic substrate, so as toprovide a light decoration or lighting effect that enriches the visualexperience.

Another objective of the invention is to provide a light-guide sunroofassembly. The plastic substrate of the light-guide sunroof assembly isfirst formed into a curved plastic plate through a hot pressing process,and then a connecting structure is formed and fixed on the plastic plateby an insert-molding injection process, in order to replace thetraditional car sunroof mechanism which is assembled by glass platebonded with metal connecting parts. The light-guide sunroof assemblycomprises a lightweight polymer sunroof and a lightweight plasticconnecting structure fixed to the sunroof by insert-molding injection,which can reduce the weight of traditional glass sunroof, front and rearwindshield, and side window glass assembly.

In order to achieve aforementioned objectives, the invention provides alight-guide sunroof assembly, which comprises: a substrate, at least onelight source module, a primer layer, and a connecting structure. Thesubstrate has an outer surface, an inner surface and a plurality of sidesurfaces vertically connected between the outer and inner surfaces. Thesubstrate is a multilayer structure comprising at least two layers ofplastic materials which comprises a transparent engineering plasticlayer and a colored upper acrylic layer located above the plastic layer.Wherein, the light transmittance of the colored upper acrylic layer isless than the light transmittance of the plastic layer, in addition, thecolored upper acrylic layer forms a colored background upon the plasticlayer. The light source module is disposed on one of the side surfacesof the substrate. The light source module is capable of emitting lightsideward toward the plastic layer, such that the light can travellaterally along the plastic layer. The primer layer is furnished at anouter rim area of the inner surface of the substrate. The connectingstructure is fixed to the outer rim area of the inner surface of thesubstrate at a position having the primer layer. The connectingstructure is capable of connecting to an external component, such thatthe substrate together with the at least one light source module can beconnected to the external component through the connecting structure.

In an embodiment, a coloring agent is added in the upper acrylic layer,so that the upper acrylic layer has a color and its light transmittanceis between 5% and 70%; the coloring agent contains at least one of thefollowing colors: black, red, blue, green, or other relatively darkcolors; the plastic layer is one of transparent, colorless ortransparent-white and has a light transmittance greater than 90%.

In an embodiment, the light-guide sunroof assembly further comprises aplurality of light-guide microstructures disposed on at least one of theouter surface, or a middle layer, or the inner surface of the substrate;the plurality of light-guide microstructures can guide and direct thelight traveling laterally along the plastic layer downward toward andthen emit out of the inner surface of the substrate; the light-guidemicrostructures are arranged in a predetermined pattern; when the atleast one light source module emits light, only the light at thepositions of these light-guide microstructures will be guided downwardand then emitted out from the inner surface of the substrate; thepredetermined pattern of light emission formed by the arrangement of thelight-guide microstructures can be displayed on the inner surface of thesubstrate.

In an embodiment, fluorescent powders are filled in the plurality oflight-guide microstructures in order to improve the luminous brightnessof the predetermined pattern of light emitted by the arrangement of theplurality of light-guide microstructures.

In an embodiment, the light-guide microstructures are formed by using alaser engraving machine, such that, the predetermined pattern is“engraved” inside the middle layer of the substrate.

In an embodiment, an upper hard coating layer is formed above the upperacrylic layer, and a lower hard coating layer is formed on the innersurface of the substrate. The light-guide microstructures are disposedon at least one of the following: the upper acrylic layer and theplastic layer.

In an embodiment, the substrate is composed of at least three layers ofdifferent plastic materials by coextrusion, which comprises: the plasticlayer located at middle of the substrate, the upper acrylic layerlocated above the plastic layer, and a lower acrylic layer located underthe plastic layer. An upper hard coating layer is formed above the upperacrylic layer, and a lower hard coating layer is formed under the loweracrylic layer. The lower acrylic layer is one of transparent, colorlessor transparent-white, and the transmittance of the lower acrylic layeris greater than 90%. The plurality of light-guide microstructures isdisposed on at least one of the following: the upper acrylic layer andthe lower acrylic layer.

In an embodiment, a coated film layer is formed above the upper hardcoating layer; the coated film layer comprises a cohesive layer, aUV-cut layer and a wear-resistant layer. The material of the cohesivelayer comprises SiO₂. The material of the UV-cut layer comprises Ti₃O₅added with UV absorber. The material of the wear-resistant layercomprises SiO₂. A top hard coating layer is further furnished on the topof the coated film layer.

In an embodiment, the light-guide sunroof assembly further comprises atleast one sealing ring layer; the sealing ring layer is disposed on asurface of the primer layer facing the connecting structure, such thatthe sealing ring layer is sandwiched between adjoining surfaces of theprimer layer and the connecting structure.

In an embodiment, the substrate has a curved surface at least at anouter peripheral region of the inner surface of the substrate. Theexternal component is a sunroof actuating mechanism of car. Theconnecting structure is made of hard plastic material or metal material;wherein, when the connecting structure is made of the hard plasticmaterial, the connecting structure is molded and fixed on the outer rimarea of the inner surface of the substrate having the primer layer byusing an insert-molding injection process; in addition, the hard plasticmaterial of the connecting structure includes at least one of thefollowing: polymethyl methacrylate (also referred as PMMA),Polycarbonate, (also referred as PC), Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene(also referred as ABS), Polypyromellitimide (also referred as PMMI),Polyethylene terephthalate (also referred as PET), Polyethylene2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylate (also referred as PEN), Polyethersulfone(also referred as PES), and Polyimide (also referred as PI); when theconnecting structure is made of metal material, the connecting structureis adhered and fixed to the outer rim area of the inner surface of thesubstrate at a position having the primer layer by using the primerlayer as an adhesive. The primer layer comprises one of the following:compounds of Amines and heterocyclic amines, Silane compounds, andPolyurethane (also referred as PU), and is coated on the outer rim areaof the inner surface of the substrate by precision wet coating process,and can provide good adhesion effect between the substrate and theconnecting structure. The sealing ring layer comprises one or more ringswhich are furnished on the surface of the primer layer by a dispensingmethod; each ring of the sealing ring layer is extending around theouter rim area in a ring shape; the material of the sealing ring layerincludes one of the following: silicone and Polyurethane (PU for short),which can improve the sealing effect between the substrate and theconnecting structure.

In an embodiment, material of the substrate of the light-guide sunroofassembly is weakened at a predetermined area of the substrate, so thatthe substrate includes an easily breakable structure at thepredetermined area.

In an embodiment, the easily breakable structure is formed by the one ofthe following:

a plurality of dots is densely arranged in the predetermined area of thesubstrate by mechanical or laser processing in order to create smallcracks in the material at these densely arranged dots and makes thestructure there weakened and easily broken, so as to form the easilybreakable structure;

a ring-shaped dotted structure is formed in the predetermined area ofthe material inside the substrate by energy irradiation or a differentmaterial interface in order to make the structure of the ring-shapeddotted structure weakened and easily broken, so as to form the easilybreakable structure; and

a plurality of vertical dashed structures and horizontal dashedstructures are formed inside the material of the substrate by energyirradiation in order to make the dashed structures weakened and easilybroken, so as to form the easily breakable structure;

wherein, the easily breakable structure also has the function ofdirecting light traveling in the substrate toward and emitting out fromthe inner surface of the substrate, such that a user can visuallyidentify the location of the easily breakables structure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be specified with reference to itspreferred embodiment illustrated in the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B are respectively a cross-sectional schematic diagramand a schematic top-view of an example of assembled luminous light barsaround a car sunroof of conventional technology;

FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are respectively the A-A cross-sectional schematicdrawing and the top-view schematic drawing of the first embodiment ofthe light-guide sunroof assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view of the second embodiment of thelight-guide sunroof assembly in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a third embodiment of thelight-guide sunroof assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B are respectively a schematic cross-sectional viewand a schematic top view of the fourth embodiment of the light-guidesunroof assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a fifth embodiment of thelight-guide sunroof assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a sixth embodiment of thelight-guide sunroof assembly of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of the predeterminedpattern of light emission formed by the arrangement of the plurality oflight-guide microstructures of the light-guide sunroof assembly of thepresent invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the predeterminedpattern of light emission formed by the arrangement of the plurality oflight-guide microstructures of the light-guide sunroof assembly of thepresent invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic sectional view of the seventh embodiment of thelight-guide sunroof assembly in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a schematic sectional view of the eighth embodiment of thelight-guide sunroof assembly in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 12A is a schematic drawing of the first embodiment of the coatedfilm layer furnished on the substrate of the invention;

FIG. 12B is a schematic drawing of the second embodiment of the coatedfilm layer furnished on the substrate of the invention;

FIG. 12C is a schematic drawing of the third embodiment of the coatedfilm layer furnished on the substrate of the invention; and

FIG. 13A, FIG. 13B and FIG. 13C respectively are the schematic diagramsof three embodiments of the easily breakable structure provided on thesubstrate of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The light-guide sunroof assembly of the present invention comprises aplastic substrate made of at least two layers of plastics and a lightsource module furnished besides the plastic substrate. An outer layer ofthe plastics of plastic substrate is added with dye to form a coloredbackground. A plurality of light-guide microstructures is selectivelyfurnished at one of the plastic layers to guide the light generated bythe light source module toward an inner surface of the plasticsubstrate. Thereby, the light generated by the light source module isguided by the plastic substrate and then ejects out of the inner surfaceof plastic substrate, so as to provide a light decoration or lightingeffect that enriches the visual experience. Moreover, the plasticsubstrate is first formed into a curved plastic plate through a hotpressing process, and then a connecting structure is formed and fixed onthe plastic plate by an insert-molding injection process, in order toreplace the traditional car sunroof mechanism which is assembled byglass plate bonded with metal connecting parts. The light-guide sunroofassembly comprises a lightweight polymer sunroof and a lightweightplastic connecting structure fixed to the sunroof by insert-moldinginjection, which can reduce the weight of traditional glass sunroof,front and rear windshield, and side window glass assembly, and isparticularly suitable for use in oil-electric hybrid electric vehiclesand pure-electric vehicles that require lightweight specifications, andfurther can provide a light decoration or lighting effect.

In order to more clearly describe the structure of the light-guidesunroof assembly, detailed descriptions of various embodiments areprovided with reference to the drawings.

Please refer to FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, which are respectively the A-Across-sectional schematic drawing and the top-view schematic drawing ofthe first embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly of the presentinvention. In the first embodiment of the invention, the light-guidesunroof assembly comprises: a substrate 10, at least one light sourcemodule 30, a primer layer 81, and a connecting structure 82. Thesubstrate 10 has an outer surface (upper surface), an inner surface(lower surface), and a plurality of side surfaces vertically connectedbetween the outer and inner surfaces. In this embodiment, the substrate10 is a multilayer structure comprising at least two layers of hardplastic materials formed by coextrusion process, which comprises: atransparent engineering plastic layer 11 made of polycarbonate (PC), andan upper acrylic layer (polymethyl methacrylate, also refers as PMMA) 12located above the plastic layer 11. An upper hard coating layer (alsoreferred as HC) 14 is formed above the upper acrylic layer 12, and alower hard coating layer (HC) 15 is formed on the inner surface ofsubstrate 10 (that is, below the lower surface of plastic layer 11). Acoloring agent is added in the upper acrylic layer 12 so that the upperacrylic layer 12 has a color and its light transmittance is between 5%and 70%. Wherein, the coloring agent contains at least one of thefollowing colors: black, red, blue, green, or other relatively darkcolors. The plastic layer 11 is one of transparent, colorless ortransparent-white and has a light transmittance greater than 90%.Thereby, the light transmittance of the colored upper acrylic layer 12is less than the light transmittance of the plastic layer 11; inaddition, the colored upper acrylic layer 12 can also form a coloredbackground upon the plastic layer 11. In a more preferably embodiment,the transmittance of the upper acrylic layer 12 as a colored backgroundis between 5% and 20%, in order to achieve a good car sunroofsun-shading function.

The at least one light source module 30 is disposed on at least one ofthe side surfaces of the substrate 10. The at least one light sourcemodule 30 can emit light sideward toward the plastic layer 11, such thatthe light can travel laterally along the plastic layer 11. In thisembodiment, the at least one light source module 30 includes at leasttwo LED light bars respectively disposed in a concave space 110 on twoopposite side surfaces of the plastic layer 11, making the LED lightbars to be substantially buried in the peripheral of the plastic layer11 (i.e., buried design), such that the light source module 30 can behidden in the mechanism design of the vehicle sunroof substrate 10. Eachlight bar can provide multiple point-light sources or line-lightsources, which comprises a plurality of light emitting diodes 31 (LED)and a circuit component (not shown in figures) for carrying the LEDs 31.The circuit component is electrically connected to the LEDs 31 and has aconnector (not shown in figures) for connecting to the vehicle's mobilecomputer or power supply, so as to transmit the power and controlsignals of the vehicle to each light bar to make it illuminate. The LEDs31 emit light sideward toward the inside of the plastic layer 11,because the colored upper acrylic layer 12 will form a dark backgroundon the upper surface of the plastic layer 11, therefore, the lightemitted by the LEDs 31 of light source module 30 enters the plasticlayer 11 and then travels laterally along the plastic layer 11, andemits out from a light-emitting area 100 of the lower surface of theplastic layer 11 (that is, the light is emitted downwardly from theinner surface of the substrate 10). Thereby, in the light-guide sunroofassembly of the present invention, the substrate 10 composed of a darkupper acrylic layer 12 and a transparent plastic layer 11 can guide thelight emitted by the light source module 30 toward the inner surface ofthe substrate 10 in order to emit light into the vehicle, so as toachieve the visual effect of light decoration or light illumination.

In the present invention, The composition of materials of the upper andlower hard coating layers 14, 15 comprises granular dispersednano-inorganic materials and/or organic-inorganic hybrid UV oligomers orsilicone base oligomers, which can provide lightweight polymer plasticsubstrates with high hardness on the outer and inner surfaces andexcellent Taber Test characteristics, maintain high transparency and lowhaze, and provide a hard and wear-resistant hard protective layer on theouter surface and the inner surface of the substrate 10. In thisembodiment, the hard coating layers 14, 15 contain a UV-light elasticoligomer with high glass transition temperature (Tg≥120° C.) or a highTg monomer (Tg≥240° C.), which can provide polymer plastic material atthe adjoining surface with high impact resistance, high flexibility andgood stability under high temperature, as well as to improve thereliability when proceeding with the high temperature and high humidityenvironmental tests. The thickness and shape of the substrate 10 mayvary according to different applications; taking the car sunroof as anexample, the thickness of the substrate 10 is usually between 3 mm to 12mm. The thickness of the engineering plastic layer 11 accounts for about60% to 99.99% of the total thickness of the substrate, while thethickness of the acrylic layer 12 accounts for about 0.01% to 40% of thetotal thickness of the substrate.

The composition of the hard coating layers 14, 15 of the inventioncomprises organic-inorganic hybrid UV oligomers. Compared with theconventional hard layer formula with high-crosslink density, thecomposition of the hard coating layers 14, 15 of the invention has arelatively low crosslink density, which can form a wear-resistant hardcoating layer with low shrinkage and good flexibility. The inorganicmaterial contained in the hard coating layers 14, 15 of the inventioncan provide good physical properties for the surfaces and thus providethe coatings with high hardness and high wear resistance. Moreover, thehard coating layers 14, 15 contain a UV-light elastic oligomer with highglass transition temperature or a high Tg monomer; compared with theconventional hard layer formula with high-crosslink density, thecomposition of the hard coating layers 14, 15 of the invention hasbetter stability under high temperature. Therefore, it has betterthermo-formability during high temperature processes, and the UV-curedcomposite sunroof material can be bended to any curvature freely.

The primer layer 81 is furnished at an outer rim area of the innersurface of the substrate 10 for improving the bonding strength andadhesion tightness between the substrate 10 and the connecting structure82. The connecting structure 82 is fixed to the outer peripheral (rim)area of the inner surface of the substrate 10 at a position having theprimer layer 81. The connecting structure 82 is for connecting to anexternal component located at the car roof (such like car body orsunroof actuating mechanism of car, not shown in figures), such that thesubstrate 10 and the light source module 30 can be connected to theexternal component through the connecting structure 82, and thus befixed to the car roof.

In this embodiment, the primer layer 81 is furnished at an outer rimarea of the inner surface of the substrate 10 for improving the bondingstrength and adhesion tightness between the substrate 10 and theconnecting structure 82. In the present invention, the primer layer 81comprises one of the following: compounds of Amines and heterocyclicamines, Silane compounds, and Polyurethane (also referred as PU), and iscoated on the outer peripheral (rim) area of the inner surface of thesubstrate 10 by precision wet coating process, and thus can provide goodadhesion effect between heterogeneous materials and is beneficial topass various environmental aging tests. In addition, the primer layer 81can be mixed with a pigment (such as a black pigment) so that the primerlayer 81 can also have the function of forming an ink-printed layer onthe inner surface of the substrate 10.

The connecting structure 82 is fixed to the outer peripheral (rim) areaof the inner surface of the substrate 10 at a position having the primerlayer 81. The connecting structure 82 is for connecting to an externalcomponent (such like car body or sunroof actuating mechanism of car, notshown in figures), such that the substrate 10 together with the at leastone light source 30 can be connected to the external component throughthe connecting structure 82. The connecting structure 82 is made of hardplastic material or metal material. In the first embodiment shown inFIG. 2A and FIG. 2B, the connecting structure 82 is made of metal suchlike iron, stainless steel, aluminum alloy by casting, forging orstamping processes. The connecting structure 82 is adhered and fixed tothe outer peripheral (rim) area of the inner surface of the substrate 10at a position having the primer layer 81 by using the primer layer 81 asan adhesive.

In the following embodiments of the invention, because the structuresand functions of most components are the same or similar with which ofthe aforementioned first embodiment, thereby, the same of similarcomponents will be given with the same names and numerals of componentswithout repeating their detailed descriptions.

Please refer to FIG. 3, which is a schematic sectional view of thesecond embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly in accordance withthe present invention. In the second embodiment of the invention, thelight-guide sunroof assembly also comprises: a substrate 10, at leastone light source module 30, a primer layer 81 and a connecting structure82. The difference between the light-guide sunroof assembly of thesecond embodiment and the aforementioned first embodiment is that, inthe second embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly shown in FIG.3, the substrate 10 is a multi-layer structure composed of at leastthree layers of different plastic materials by coextrusion, whichcomprises: a plastic layer 11 located at middle of the substrate 20, anupper acrylic layer (upper PMMA) 12 located above the plastic layer 11,a lower acrylic layer (lower PMMA) 13 located under the plastic layer11, an upper hard coating layer 14 located above the upper acrylic layer12, and a lower hard coating layer 15 located under the lower acryliclayer 13. The plastic layer 11 and the lower acrylic layer 13 are one oftransparent, colorless or transparent-white, and the transmittance ofboth the plastic layer 11 and the lower acrylic layer 13 is greater than90%. The upper acrylic layer 12 is internally added with black, red,blue, green, or other relatively dark coloring agents; such that theupper acrylic layer 12 can have a color, and the light transmittance ofthe upper acrylic layer 12 is between 5% and 70%, and thereby forming adark background above the transparent plastic layer 11.

As for the other components of the light-guide sunroof assembly of thesecond embodiment, for example but not limited to: light source module30, primer layer 81, connecting structure 82, and etc., because theirstructures and functions are substantially the same as or similar tothose described in the first embodiment, so won't be repeatedlydescribed here.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which is a schematic cross-sectional view of athird embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly of the presentinvention. In the third embodiment of the present invention, thelight-guide sunroof assembly also comprises: a substrate 10, at leastone light source module 30, a primer layer 81 and a connecting structure82. The substrate 10 is a multilayer structure comprising at least twolayers of different plastic materials, which comprises: a transparentengineering plastic layer 11 made of polycarbonate (PC), and an upperacrylic layer (PMMA) 12 located above the plastic layer 11. The plasticlayer 11 is one of transparent, colorless or transparent-white and has alight transmittance greater than 90%. A coloring agent such as black,red, blue, green, or other relatively dark color is added in the upperacrylic layer 12 so that the upper acrylic layer 12 has a color and itslight transmittance is between 5% and 20%. The colored upper acryliclayer 12 forms a colored background upon the plastic layer 11. An upperhard coating layer (HC) 14 is formed above the upper acrylic layer 12,and a lower hard coating layer (HC) 15 is formed on the inner surface ofsubstrate 10 (that is, below the lower surface of plastic layer 11). Thedifference between the light-guide sunroof assembly of the thirdembodiment and the aforementioned first embodiment is that, in the thirdembodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly shown in FIG. 4, thelight-guide sunroof assembly further comprises a plurality oflight-guide microstructures 141 disposed on at least one of the outersurface or the inner surface of the substrate 10. As shown in FIG. 4,the plurality of light-guide microstructures 141 are arranged on theupper surface of the upper acrylic layer 12, or the lower surface of theupper hard coating layer 14, or a middle layer between the upper acryliclayer 12 and the upper hard coating layer 14. The plurality oflight-guide microstructures 141 can guide and direct the light travelingalong the horizontal direction of the engineering plastic layer 11downward toward and then emit out of the inner surface of the substrate10. These light-guide microstructures 141 are arranged in apredetermined pattern; therefore, when the at least one light sourcemodule 30 emits light, only the light at the positions of theselight-guide microstructures 141 will be guided downward and then emittedfrom the inner surface of the substrate 10, and the predeterminedpattern of light emission formed by the arrangement of these light-guidemicrostructures 141 can be displayed on the inner surface of thesubstrate 10, so as to achieve the visual effect of light decoration.

Please refer to FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, which are respectively a schematiccross-sectional view and a schematic top view of the fourth embodimentof the light-guide sunroof assembly of the present invention. In thefourth embodiment of the present invention, the light-guide sunroofassembly also comprises: a substrate 10, at least one light sourcemodule 30, a primer layer 81 and a connecting structure 82. Thesubstrate 10 is a multilayer structure comprising at least three layersof different plastic materials, which comprises: a transparentengineering plastic layer 11 made of polycarbonate (PC), an upperacrylic layer (PMMA) 12 located above the plastic layer 11, and a loweracrylic layer (PMMA) 13 located below the plastic layer 11. The plasticlayer 11 and the lower acrylic layer 13 both are either transparent,colorless or transparent-white and have a light transmittance greaterthan 90%. A coloring agent such as black, red, blue, green, or otherrelatively dark color is added in the upper acrylic layer 12 so that theupper acrylic layer 12 has a color and its light transmittance isbetween 5% and 20%, such that, the colored upper acrylic layer 12 formsa colored background upon the plastic layer 11. An upper hard coatinglayer (HC) 14 is formed above the upper acrylic layer 12, and a lowerhard coating layer (HC) 15 is formed below the lower acrylic layer 13.The difference between the light-guide sunroof assembly of the fourthembodiment and the aforementioned first embodiment is that, in thefourth embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly shown in FIG. 5Aand FIG. 5B, the light-guide sunroof assembly further comprises aplurality of light-guide microstructures 141 disposed on at least one ofthe following: the upper surface of the upper acrylic layer 12, thelower surface of the upper hard coating layer 14, or between the upperacrylic layer 12 and the upper hard coating layer 14. The plurality oflight-guide microstructures 141 can guide and direct the light travelingalong the horizontal direction of the engineering plastic layer 11downward toward and then emit out of the inner surface of the substrate10. These light-guide microstructures 141 are arranged in apredetermined pattern; therefore, when the at least one light sourcemodule 30 emits light, only the light at the positions of theselight-guide microstructures 141 will be guided downward and then emittedfrom the inner surface of the substrate 10, and the predeterminedpattern of light emission formed by the arrangement of these light-guidemicrostructures 141 can be displayed in a light-emitting area 100 on theinner surface of the substrate 10, so as to achieve the visual effect oflight decoration.

Please refer to FIG. 6, which is a schematic cross-sectional view of afifth embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly of the presentinvention. In the fifth embodiment of the present invention, thelight-guide sunroof assembly also comprises: a substrate 10, at leastone light source module 30, a primer layer 81 and a connecting structure82. The substrate 10 is a multilayer structure comprising at least twolayers of different materials, which comprises: a transparentengineering plastic layer 11, and an upper acrylic layer 12 locatedabove the plastic layer 11. The plastic layer 11 is one of transparent,colorless or transparent-white and has a light transmittance greaterthan 90%. A coloring agent such as black, red, blue, green, or otherrelatively dark color is added in the upper acrylic layer 12 so that theupper acrylic layer 12 has a color and its light transmittance isbetween 5% and 20%. The colored upper acrylic layer 12 forms a coloredbackground upon the plastic layer 11. An upper hard coating layer 14 isformed above the upper acrylic layer 12, and a lower hard coating layer15 is formed on the inner surface of substrate 10. The differencebetween the light-guide sunroof assembly of the fifth embodiment and theaforementioned first embodiment is that, in the fifth embodiment of thelight-guide sunroof assembly shown in FIG. 6, the light-guide sunroofassembly further comprises a plurality of light-guide microstructures151 disposed on at least one of the lower surface of the plastic layer11, or the upper surface of the lower hard coating layer 15, or betweenthe lower surface of the plastic layer 11 and the lower hard coatinglayer 15. The plurality of light-guide microstructures 151 can guide anddirect the light traveling along the horizontal direction of the plasticlayer 11 downward toward and then emit out of the inner surface of thesubstrate 10, so as to achieve the visual effect of light decoration.

Please refer to FIG. 7, which is a schematic cross-sectional view of asixth embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly of the presentinvention. In the sixth embodiment of the present invention, thelight-guide sunroof assembly also comprises: a substrate 10, at leastone light source module 30, a primer layer 81 and a connecting structure82. The substrate 10 is a multilayer structure comprising at least threelayers of different materials, which comprises: a transparentengineering plastic layer 11, an upper acrylic layer 12 located abovethe plastic layer 11, and a lower acrylic layer 13 located below theplastic layer 11. The plastic layer 11 and the lower acrylic layer 13are both transparent, colorless or transparent-white and have lighttransmittance greater than 90%. A coloring agent such as black, red,blue, green, or other relatively dark color is added in the upperacrylic layer 12 so that the upper acrylic layer 12 has a color and itslight transmittance is between 5% and 20%. The colored upper acryliclayer 12 forms a colored background upon the plastic layer 11. An upperhard coating layer 14 is formed above the upper acrylic layer 12, and alower hard coating layer 15 is formed below the lower acrylic layer 13.In the sixth embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly shown inFIG. 7, the light-guide sunroof assembly further comprises a pluralityof light-guide microstructures 151 disposed on at least one of the lowersurface of the lower acrylic layer 13, or the upper surface of the lowerhard coating layer 15, or between the lower acrylic layer 13 and thelower hard coating layer 15. The plurality of light-guidemicrostructures 151 can guide and direct the light traveling along thehorizontal direction of the plastic layer 11 downward toward and thenemit out of the inner surface of the substrate 10, so as to achieve thevisual effect of light decoration.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, fluorescent powders can befilled in the recesses of the plurality of light-guide microstructures141, 151, in order to improve the luminous brightness of thepredetermined pattern of light emitted by the arrangement of theplurality of light-guide microstructures 141, 151.

In this invention, the plurality of light-guide microstructures 141 and151 are formed on the surface of the substrate by using physicalprocessing methods and tools such as laser carving machines, laserengraving machines or computer numerical controlled (CNC) milling orother processing machines. The locations of the light-guidemicrostructures 141 and 151 can be formed on the surface of the plasticlayer, the upper or lower acrylic layer, or the upper or lower hardcoating layer. When the light-guide microstructures are fabricated onthe surface of a polymer material (for example, the engineering plasticlayer or one of the upper and lower acrylic layers), the thickness ofthe subsequent hard layers must not be larger than the depth of thelight-guide microstructures. If the light-guide microstructures arefabricated on the surface of the hard coating layer, it is necessary toconsider that the depth of the post-processed light-guidemicrostructures should not be deeper than the thickness of the hardcoating layer. The detailed and specific shape or structure of thelight-guide microstructures itself is not described in detail because itcan be selected from the well-known technologies.

Please refer to FIG. 8, which is a schematic diagram of an embodiment ofthe predetermined pattern of light emission formed by the arrangement ofthe plurality of light-guide microstructures of the light-guide sunroofassembly of the present invention. In this embodiment, the predeterminedpattern formed by the arrangement of the plurality of light-guidemicrostructures looks like a night sky pattern having starlight andgalaxy. That is, when the light source module 30 emits light, the lightguiding effect of each light-guide microstructure will form a light spot101 similar to the light of a star under the inner surface of thesubstrate; therefore, the starry light spots 101 provided by a lot oflight-guide microstructures can provide a visual experience of lightdecoration similar to the numerous stars and the galaxy in the nightsky.

Please refer to FIG. 9, which is a schematic diagram of anotherembodiment of the predetermined pattern of light emission formed by thearrangement of the plurality of light-guide microstructures of thelight-guide sunroof assembly of the present invention. In thisembodiment, the predetermined pattern formed by the arrangement of theplurality of light-guide microstructures presents specific patterns ortexts. When the light source module 30 emits light, the light guidingeffect of the light-guide microstructures will form specific patterns ortexts arranged by the plurality of light spots 101 under the innersurface of the substrate, and such patterns or texts can be designed bythe customer or the car factory to provide honorable and unique lightdecoration visual experience.

In a further embodiment, the predetermined pattern formed by thearrangement of the plurality of light-guide microstructures can also bea very dense and regularly arranged array pattern; such that, the lightemitted by the light source module 30 can be emitted neatly and in largequantities from the inner surface of the substrate, in order to providelighting effects similar to car roof lights.

In yet another embodiment, according to the predetermined patterns oflight emissions formed by the arrangements of the plurality oflight-guide microstructures as shown in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, thelight-guide microstructures are formed by using two-dimensional (2D) orthree-dimensional (3D) laser engraving machines. By using the 2D or 3Dlaser engraving machine, the predetermined pattern is “Engraved” as aplane pattern or a 3D pattern inside the middle layer of the substrate10, but not formed on the upper or lower surface of the substrate 10.Similarly, the light traveling along the horizontal direction of theengineering plastic layer can also be directed toward the bottom of thesubstrate 10 at locations of the light-guide microstructure formed bythe laser engraving machine, therefore, the plurality of light spots 101provided by the light-guide microstructures can provide a visualexperience of light decoration similar to specific patterns, or texts,or numerous stars.

Please refer to FIG. 10, which is a schematic sectional view of theseventh embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly in accordancewith the present invention. In the seventh embodiment of the invention,the substrate of the light-guide sunroof assembly is alight-transmissive plastic plate structure with curved surface. Theseventh embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly has a structuresimilar with which of the first embodiment and also comprises: asubstrate 10 formed with a concave space 110, at least one light sourcemodule 30 located at the concave space 110, a primer layer 81 and aconnecting structure 82. In addition, the substrate 10 also comprises: aplastic layer 11, an upper acrylic layer (upper PMMA) 12, a loweracrylic layer (lower PMMA) 13, an upper hard coating layer 14 and alower hard coating layer 15. Because the substrate 10 of the inventionis made of hard material with curved surface, and the connectingstructure 82 is also made of hard metal; when the curvatures of thejoining surfaces of these two components mismatch (curvature toleranceexists), the sealing effect and tightness become poor, and the problemof leaks arises. Therefore, in the seventh embodiment of the inventionshown in FIG. 10, one or more rings of high-temperature-resistantsealing ring layer 83 are partially furnished on the primer layer 81 bydispensing method, which can effectively fill the gaps between two hardmaterials, and avoid leakage risk of composite sunroof assembly due tocurvature tolerance (curvature mismatch). In this embodiment, thesealing ring layer 83 is disposed on a surface of the primer layer 81facing the connecting structure 82, such that the sealing ring layer 83is sandwiched between the adjoining surfaces of the primer layer 81 andthe connecting structure 82. The one or more rings of sealing ring layer83 are applied on the surface of the primer layer 81 facing theconnecting structure 82 by a dispensing method, and each ring of thesealing ring layer 83 is extending around the outer peripheral (rim)area in a ring shape. The material of the sealing ring layer 83 includesone of the following: silicone and Polyurethane (PU for short), whichcan fill the gaps caused by curvature tolerance between hard materialsin order to improve the sealing effect between the substrate 10 and theconnecting structure 82 and is beneficial to pass the leak test.

It is worth mentioning that, in the seventh embodiment of thelight-guide sunroof assembly of the present invention shown in FIG. 10,the plastic layer 11 or one of the upper and lower acrylic layers 12, 13is also provided with the light-guide microstructures for guiding lightto the lower surface of the substrate 10; these light-guidemicrostructures are not drawn/shown in FIG. 10 just to make the drawingof FIG. 10 concise.

In addition to the aforementioned connecting structure that is made ofmetal, the invention further provides a technology for directly moldingand fixing the connecting structure onto the plastic plate by using aninsert-molding injection process, which can replace the traditional carsunroof mechanism which is assembled by glass plate bonded with metalconnecting parts.

Please refer to FIG. 11, which is a schematic sectional view of theeighth embodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly in accordance withthe present invention. In the eighth embodiment of the invention, thelight-guide sunroof assembly is similar to the aforementioned seventhembodiment and also comprises: a substrate 10 formed with a concavespace 110, a light source module 30 located at the concave space 110, aprimer layer 81, a connecting structure 82 and at least one sealing ringlayer 83. In addition, the substrate 10 also comprises: a plastic layer11, upper and lower acrylic layers 12, 13, and upper and lower hardcoating layers 14, 15. The differences between the eighth embodiment andpreviously illustrated embodiments comprise: the connecting structure 82a is made of a hard plastic material and is molded and fixed on theouter peripheral (rim) area of the inner surface of the substrate 10having the primer layer 81 by using an insert-molding injection process;wherein the thickness of the connecting structure 82 a is between 1 mmto 50 mm. In addition, the hard plastic material of the connectingstructure 82 a includes at least one of the following: polymethylmethacrylate (also referred as PMMA), Polycarbonate, (also referred asPC), Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (also referred as ABS),Polypyromellitimide (also referred as PMMI), Polyethylene terephthalate(also referred as PET), Polyethylene 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylate (alsoreferred as PEN), Polyethersulfone (also referred as PES), and Polyimide(also referred as PI). Moreover, in the eighth embodiment shown in FIG.11, a coated film layer 20 having a multilayer film structure is furtherprovided on at least the upper hard coating layer 14 of the substrate10. The coated film layer 20 can provide anti-ultraviolet and abrasionresistance effects to the surface of the substrate 10, and also canimprove the shortcomings of the substrate 10 itself, such as poorsurface hardness and abrasion resistance, as well as yellowing ordegradation due to long-term exposure to heat or ultraviolet. Thedetails of the coated film layer 20 will be described in detail in thesubsequent embodiments. It is worth mentioning that, in the eighthembodiment of the light-guide sunroof assembly of the present inventionshown in FIG. 11, the plastic layer 11 or one of the upper and loweracrylic layers 12, 13 is also provided with the light-guidemicrostructures for guiding light to the lower surface of the substrate10; these light-guide microstructures are not drawn/shown in FIG. 11just to make the drawing of FIG. 11 concise.

The light-guide sunroof assembly having a substrate with curved surfaceof the invention provides a solution for lightweight polymer sunroof ofcars, which comprises a lightweight polymer sunroof and a lightweightplastic connecting structure fixed to the sunroof by insert-moldinginjection, and thus can reduce the weight of traditional glass sunroofassembled by glass and metal, and is particularly suitable for use inoil-electric hybrid vehicles and pure-electric vehicles that requirelightweight specifications. The lightweight polymer sunroof of theinvention comprises primer layer and sealing ring layer sandwichedbetween the plastic substrate and the plastic connecting structure,especially suitable to be manufactured by using insert-molding injectionprocess to assemble two or more hard and different plastic materials,and has the following advantages:

1. Can reduce the weight of traditional glass sunroof, front and rearwindshield, and side window glass assembly, and also has the advantagesof light weight (reducing fuel consumption or power consumption) andsafety (uneasy to break). The invention uses composite materials suchlike PMMA/PC/PMMA or PMMA/PC to make the substrate, and uses wet coatingand sputtering coating processes to produce the sunroof; the surfacehardness can be increased to more than 4H (4H˜9H), the wear resistancecan pass the Taber Test with level “L”, and the UV yellowing resistancetest (5000 hours) can maintain the specification of ΔE <1. Themanufacturing method of the mechanism of the connecting structure of thepresent invention is to directly place the composite sunroof into theinjection machine, and then using the insert-molding injection processto insert-mold the connecting structure onto the sunroof. Not only theweight can be reduced by replacing the glass with the polymer PCsubstrate, but also the weight can be further reduced by replacing theiron or stainless steel parts with the polymer connecting structure, andthat the effect of reducing the overall weight to ½ to ⅓ of the originalweight of the conventional sunroof made of glass and metal parts can beachieved.

2. By using the polymer material formula, coating formula design andprecision coating technologies, the abrasion resistance of polymersurfaces can be improved to the same level as glass (abrasion resistancetest “Taber Test” can reach “L” level), and the original optical andphysical properties can also be maintained after passing various weatherresistance tests. The traditional insert-molded polymer materials(connecting structure) and the injection adjoining surface (hard coatingof the substrate) cannot be effectively bonded because of theirdifferent material properties, and might peel off after environmentaltests. In the present invention, a high-temperature-resistant primerlayer made of Amine, Silane, or PU-based material is used as the bondingmedium between the hard coating layer of substrate and the injectedconnecting structure, such that, the hard coating layer adjoining theinjection surface can has a high surface dyne value (>44 dyne), which isconducive to the bonding of the injected connecting structure; not onlycan pass the harsh high temperature, high temperature and high humidity,high and low temperatures with cold and hot shock environmental tests,but also can avoid the problems of peeling of the injected polymerconnecting structure from the composite sunroof after the environmentaltests.

3. By the manufacturing process that the plastic plate is first hotpressed and then insert-molding injected, the conventional design ofglass bonded with metal parts can be replaced. In the traditionalinjection process, the insert-molding polymer materials must reach ahigh temperature of more than 250 Celsius degrees in the injectionscrew, and be injected on the hard coating layer of the bonding surfaceof the composite sunroof; thereby, the composite sunroof has to sufferthe high temperature of the injection process. In addition, because thecomposite sunroof substrate is a hard plastic material with a curvedsurface, and the injected polymer connecting structure is also made ofhard plastic, when the curvatures of the adjoining surfaces of these twoparts do not match (curvature tolerance), it will cause poor sealingbetween these two parts and thus result in water leakage problems.According to the present invention, one or more rings ofhigh-temperature-resistant sealing ring layer are partially furnished onthe primer layer 81 by dispensing method, which can be performedcoordinating with the injection process, and can effectively fill thegaps between two hard materials, so as to avoid the risk of leakage ofcomposite sunroof assembly due to curvature tolerance (curvaturemismatch)

Please refer to FIG. 12A, which is a schematic drawing of the firstembodiment of the coated film layer furnished on the substrate of theinvention. The substrate 10 shown in FIG. 12A is similar to the eighthembodiment shown in FIG. 11 and also comprises: a plastic layer 11,upper and lower acrylic layers 12, 13, upper and lower hard coatinglayers 14, 15, and a coated film layer 20 located above the upper hardcoating layer 14. In the present invention, the coated film layer 20comprises multifunctional optical inorganic materials, which can provideeffects of UV resistance, IR resistance and surface abrasion resistance,and can pass L-level Taber Test. Wherein, the multifunctional opticalinorganic materials comprise: SiO₂, Ti₃O₅, Nb₂O₅ and/or other materialswith low refractive index or high refractive index. As shown in FIG.12A, the first embodiment of the coated film layer 20 comprises (frombottom to up): a cohesive layer 21, a UV-cut layer 22 and awear-resistant layer 23. In this embodiment, the multilayer filmstructure of the coated film layer 20 can be sequentially formed by aplasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (also referred asPlasma-Enhanced CVD or PECVD) or vacuum sputtering process on the outersurface of the substrate 10 (that is, the outer surface of the upperhard coating layer 14). In this embodiment, the material of the cohesivelayer 21 can be SiO₂, the material of the UV-cut layer 22 can be Ti₃O₅added with UV absorber, while the material of the wear-resistant layer23 can include SiO₂.

In a preferred embodiment, the different materials of different layersof the substrate have different glass transition temperatures (Tg), andthe differences between these different glass transition temperatures ofdifferent materials are ranged in 30-60. In addition, a ratio ofthicknesses of these different layers of the substrate is between0.0001-0.001. The refractive index difference between the wear-resistantlayer and the UV-cut layer is at least 0.3. For light in ultravioletwavelength range, the ratio of the refractive indices of thewear-resistant layer and the UV-cut layer is between 2.35 and 1.38. Thethickness difference between the wear-resistant layer and the UV-cutlayer is at least 100 nm.

Please refer to FIG. 12B, which is a schematic drawing of the secondembodiment of the coated film layer furnished on the substrate of theinvention. In FIG. 12B, the second embodiment of the coated film layer20 a comprises (from bottom to top sequentially): a first cohesive layer21, a UV-cut layer 22, a second cohesive layer 21 a, an IR-cut layer 24and a wear-resistant layer 25. The material of first and second cohesivelayers 21, 21 a can include SiO₂, the materials of the UV-cut layer 22and the IR-cut layer 24 can be Ti₃O₅ added with UV absorber and IRabsorber respectively, while the material of the wear-resistant layer 25can include SiO₂. By providing the anti-ultraviolet (UV-cut) andanti-infrared (IR-cut) functions on the outer surface of the substrate10 body, not only the UV and IR blocking effects can be provided, butalso the substrate itself does not yellow, and it does not accumulatethermal energy as well; the substrate itself retains opticallytransparent status.

Please refer to FIG. 12C, which is a schematic drawing of the thirdembodiment of the coated film layer furnished on the substrate of theinvention. In FIG. 12C, the structure of the coated film layer 20, 20 acan be the same as the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 12A or FIG. 12B,however, a top hard coating layer 26 can be further furnished on the topof the coated film layer 20, 20 a in order to improve the hardness andabrasion resistance ability of the top surface of the coated film layer20, 20 a; in addition, the top surface of the coated film layer 20, 20 ais better resistant to strong acid and alkali.

Please refer to FIG. 13A, FIG. 13B and FIG. 13C, which respectively arethe schematic diagrams of three embodiments of the easily breakablestructure provided on the substrate of the present invention. In thisinvention, the material of the substrate 10 of the light-guide sunroofassembly can be weakened by mechanical or laser methods at apredetermined area (usually near to a corner) of the substrate 10, sothat the substrate 10 will include a predetermined area with an easilybreakable structure after the weakening treatment. When an emergencyoccurs, the user can operate a tool (such as a hammer) to aim at thepredetermined area of the easily breakable structure to strike, and thesubstrate 10 will be easily broken from this predetermined area, suchthat, it will be convenient for users to escape through the brokensubstrate 10 (that is, sunroof of vehicle). As shown in FIG. 13A, thedots 411 are densely arranged in a partial area 41 (i.e., thepredetermined area) of the substrate 10 by mechanical or laserprocessing in order to create small cracks in the material at thesedensely arranged dots 411 and makes the structure there weakened andeasily broken, so as to form the easily breakable structure. As shown inFIG. 13B, a ring-shaped dotted structure 42 is formed in a predeterminedpart (i.e., the predetermined area) of the material inside the substrate10 by energy irradiation (for example, high-energy laser irradiation) ora different material interface in order to make the structure of thering-shaped dotted structure 42 weakened and easily broken, so as toform the easily breakable structure. As shown in FIG. 13C, a pluralityof vertical dashed structures 431 and horizontal dashed structures 432are formed inside the material of the substrate 10 by energy irradiationin order to make the structure at the dashed structures 431 and 432weakened and easily broken, so as to form the easily breakablestructure. Preferably, the easily breakable structure also has thefunction of directing light traveling in the horizontal direction insidethe substrate 10 toward the inner surface of the substrate 10 andallowing the directed light to emit out from the inner surface of thesubstrate 10, such that the user can visually identify the location ofthe easily breakables structure.

An embodiment of the manufacturing method of the light-guide assemblyaccording to the present invention comprises the following steps.

Step A: providing a substrate. The substrate at least comprises aplastic material with multilayer structure. In this embodiment, thesubstrate can be the substrate with coated film layer shown in FIG. 11,in which, the detailed and specific structure of the substrate and thecoated film layer can be selected from any of the substrates and thecoated film layers shown in FIG. 11 and FIGS. 12A to 12C.

Step B: preheating the substrate. The substrate is heated to a firstpredetermined temperature by a preheating process.

Step C: cooling and pressure-molding the substrate with mold. By using astamping process and a cooling process, the substrate is first cooleddown to a second predetermined temperature, and then the substrate ispressure-molded by a mold at the same time.

Step D: cutting the contour of substrate by CNC. The contour of thepressure-molded substrate is cut by a CNC (Computer Numerical Control)milling machine to make a plastic plate with a predetermined contour andshape.

Step E: applying primer layer. By using a coating process, a primerlayer is applied to an outer peripheral (rim) area of the surface of theplastic plate.

Step F: applying sealing ring layer. By using a glue dispensing process,at least one sealing ring layer is provided on the primer layer. Thesealing ring layer is partially disposed on the surface of the primerlayer facing the connecting structure, and the sealing ring layer issandwiched between the contact surfaces of the primer layer and theconnecting structure.

Step G: insert-molding injection of the connecting structure. Through aninsert-molding injection process, a connecting structure is formed in aninsert-molding injection manner and fixed at the position of the outerperipheral (rim) area of the plastic plate having the primer layer.

Step H: assembling at least one light source module in a concave spaceinstalled on the side surface of the plastic layer of the substrate. Thelight-guide sunroof assembly as shown in FIG. 11 can be manufacturedthrough the above Steps A-H.

While the present invention has been shown and described with referenceto the preferred embodiments thereof and the illustrative drawings, itshould not be considered as limited thereby. Various possiblemodifications and alterations can be conceived by persons skilledwithout departing from the scope and the spirit of the presentinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A light-guide sunroof assembly, comprises: asubstrate, having an outer surface, an inner surface and a plurality ofside surfaces vertically connected between the outer and inner surfaces;the substrate being a multilayer structure comprising at least twolayers of plastic materials which comprises a transparent engineeringplastic layer and a colored upper acrylic layer located above theplastic layer; wherein, the light transmittance of the colored upperacrylic layer is less than the light transmittance of the plastic layer,in addition, the colored upper acrylic layer forms a colored backgroundupon the plastic layer; at least one light source module, disposed on atleast one of the side surfaces of the substrate; the at least one lightsource module being capable of emitting light sideward toward theplastic layer, such that the light can travel laterally along theplastic layer; a primer layer, furnished at an outer rim area of theinner surface of the substrate; and a connecting structure, fixed to theouter rim area of the inner surface of the substrate at a positionhaving the primer layer; the connecting structure being capable ofconnecting to an external component, such that the substrate togetherwith the at least one light source module can be connected to theexternal component through the connecting structure.
 2. The light-guidesunroof assembly of claim 1, wherein, a coloring agent is added in theupper acrylic layer, so that the upper acrylic layer has a color and itslight transmittance is between 5% and 70%; the coloring agent containsat least one of the following colors: black, red, blue, green, or otherrelatively dark colors; the plastic layer is one of transparent,colorless or transparent-white and has a light transmittance greaterthan 90%.
 3. The light-guide sunroof assembly of claim 1, wherein, thelight-guide sunroof assembly further comprises a plurality oflight-guide microstructures disposed on at least one of the outersurface, or a middle layer, or the inner surface of the substrate; theplurality of light-guide microstructures can guide and direct the lighttraveling laterally along the plastic layer downward toward and thenemit out of the inner surface of the substrate; the light-guidemicrostructures are arranged in a predetermined pattern; when the atleast one light source module emits light, only the light at thepositions of these light-guide microstructures will be guided downwardand then emitted out from the inner surface of the substrate; thepredetermined pattern of light emission formed by the arrangement of thelight-guide microstructures can be displayed on the inner surface of thesubstrate.
 4. The light-guide sunroof assembly of claim 3, wherein,fluorescent powders are filled in the plurality of light-guidemicrostructures in order to improve the luminous brightness of thepredetermined pattern of light emitted by the arrangement of theplurality of light-guide microstructures.
 5. The light-guide sunroofassembly of claim 3, wherein, the light-guide microstructures are formedby using a laser engraving machine, such that, the predetermined patternis “engraved” inside the middle layer of the substrate.
 6. Thelight-guide sunroof assembly of claim 3, wherein: an upper hard coatinglayer is formed above the upper acrylic layer, and a lower hard coatinglayer is formed on the inner surface of the substrate; the plurality oflight-guide microstructures is disposed on at least one of thefollowing: the upper acrylic layer and the plastic layer.
 7. Thelight-guide sunroof assembly of claim 3, wherein: the substrate iscomposed of at least three layers of different plastic materials bycoextrusion, which comprises: the plastic layer located at middle of thesubstrate, the upper acrylic layer located above the plastic layer, anda lower acrylic layer located under the plastic layer; an upper hardcoating layer is formed above the upper acrylic layer, and a lower hardcoating layer is formed under the lower acrylic layer; the lower acryliclayer is one of transparent, colorless or transparent-white, and thetransmittance of the lower acrylic layer is greater than 90%; theplurality of light-guide microstructures is disposed on at least one ofthe following: the upper acrylic layer and the lower acrylic layer. 8.The light-guide sunroof assembly of claim 7, wherein: a coated filmlayer is formed above the upper hard coating layer; the coated filmlayer comprises a cohesive layer, a UV-cut layer and a wear-resistantlayer; the material of the cohesive layer comprises SiO₂; the materialof the UV-cut layer comprises Ti₃O₅ added with UV absorber; the materialof the wear-resistant layer comprises SiO₂; a top hard coating layer isfurther furnished on the top of the coated film layer.
 9. Thelight-guide sunroof assembly of claim 7, wherein, the light-guidesunroof assembly further comprises at least one sealing ring layer; thesealing ring layer is disposed on a surface of the primer layer facingthe connecting structure, such that the sealing ring layer is sandwichedbetween adjoining surfaces of the primer layer and the connectingstructure.
 10. The light-guide sunroof assembly of claim 9, wherein: thesubstrate has a curved surface at least at an outer peripheral region ofthe inner surface of the substrate; the external component is a sunroofactuating mechanism of car; the connecting structure is made of hardplastic material or metal material; wherein, when the connectingstructure is made of the hard plastic material, the connecting structureis molded and fixed on the outer rim area of the inner surface of thesubstrate having the primer layer by using an insert-molding injectionprocess; in addition, the hard plastic material of the connectingstructure includes at least one of the following: polymethylmethacrylate (also referred as PMMA), Polycarbonate (also referred asPC), Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (also referred as ABS),Polypyromellitimide (also referred as PMMI), Polyethylene terephthalate(also referred as PET), Polyethylene 2,6-naphthalene dicarboxylate (alsoreferred as PEN), Polyethersulfone (also referred as PES), and Polyimide(also referred as PI); when the connecting structure is made of metalmaterial, the connecting structure is adhered and fixed to the outer rimarea of the inner surface of the substrate at a position having theprimer layer by using the primer layer as an adhesive; the primer layercomprises one of the following: compounds of Amines and heterocyclicamines, Silane compounds, and Polyurethane (also referred as PU), and iscoated on the outer rim area of the inner surface of the substrate byprecision wet coating process, and can provide good adhesion effectbetween the substrate and the connecting structure; the sealing ringlayer comprises one or more rings which are furnished on the surface ofthe primer layer by a dispensing method; each ring of the sealing ringlayer is extending around the outer rim area in a ring shape; thematerial of the sealing ring layer includes one of the following:silicone and Polyurethane (PU for short), which can improve the sealingeffect between the substrate and the connecting structure.
 11. Thelight-guide sunroof assembly of claim 3, wherein, material of thesubstrate of the light-guide sunroof assembly is weakened at apredetermined area of the substrate, so that the substrate includes aneasily breakable structure at the predetermined area.
 12. Thelight-guide sunroof assembly of claim 11, wherein, the easily breakablestructure is formed by the one of the following: a plurality of dots isdensely arranged in the predetermined area of the substrate bymechanical or laser processing in order to create small cracks in thematerial at these densely arranged dots and makes the structure thereweakened and easily broken, so as to form the easily breakablestructure; a ring-shaped dotted structure is formed in the predeterminedarea of the material inside the substrate by energy irradiation or adifferent material interface in order to make the structure of thering-shaped dotted structure weakened and easily broken, so as to formthe easily breakable structure; and a plurality of vertical dashedstructures and horizontal dashed structures are formed inside thematerial of the substrate by energy irradiation in order to make thedashed structures weakened and easily broken, so as to form the easilybreakable structure; wherein, the easily breakable structure also hasthe function of directing light traveling in the substrate toward andemitting out from the inner surface of the substrate, such that a usercan visually identify the location of the easily breakables structure.